After the International break, the young Yellow & Blue visited Kiryat Shemona on Matchday 3 of the Israel Youth Premier League. Maccabi came into the contest with two straight wins while the host’s had picked up 1 point in their matches. Head Coach Guy Tzarfati gave new recruit, Panamanian Eduardo Guerrero his first start.
Starting XI: Daniel Peretz, Michael Chilaka, Amit Glazer, Yoav Hofmayster, Tomer Mahluf, Tamir Glazer, Mufleh Shalata, Ido Shachar, Eduardo Guerrero, Omer Barami, Eyal Hen.
First Half
The Yellow & Blue took control of the contest from the outset and in the 10’ Hen sent a cross to Guerrero but Kiryat Shemona keeper Nadav Zamir made a quality save. Ten minutes later Shalata stole the ball from the host’s defense, went by a pair of players but at the last second Kiryat Shemona cleared the ball from danger. In the 28’ Tamir Glazer tried his luck from long distance but the ball went out while in the 42’ the host’s had a good chance to get on the board but Itzhak Danan’s opportunity from outside of the box couldn’t find the target.
Just before the break, a mistake by the Yellow & Blue led to Basel Shaban going one on one with Peretz, but Chilaka was able to help out the Maccabi keeper in time and cleared the threat as the side’s went into halftime goalless.
Second Half
The first 20 minutes of the second half was played primarily in the midfield as neither side had a chance on goal. In the 70’ Shalata received the ball on the left side, went by a defender and handed it off to Mahluf but his shot was saved while the Tal Yagudayev’s rebound chance went over the goal.
Maccabi continued to dictate the pace but couldn’t muster up many chances. In the 90’ the Yellow & Blue appeared to have scored, but the goal was determined to have been offside. Just before the final whistle, Rave Assayag’s header missed the target as the match ended in a 0:0 draw.
